|
Spring doesn’t knock in my world,
It always just shows up.
The light changes. The air shifts.
Things move fast and April is already here.
And suddenly, everything in the kitchen starts leaning green.
My Ancestors Coming out of the Cold
The winter of the 1850s in Baden-Württemberg was a cold one.
Still the tail end of the Little Ice Age—snow lingering well into March.
The Streib House in Steinsfurt, Germany
So I bet Spring was very welcome.
I think about my great-great-grandfather Philip’s family,
and my great-grandfather Heinrich’s family in Steinsfurt, Germany,
coming out of a long winter without fresh greens,
without fruit, without anything truly alive on the plate.
My grandmother used to talk about dandelions
bitter, sharp but they were alive, after months of nothing.
And how they were often the first sign.
Something green.
Something worth gathering.
About 60 miles north of my grandma's home in Steinsfurt sits Frankfurt, Germany
|
And in Frankfurt, spring became something more. |
Our German ancestors
spread many ideas far and wide.
One of them, of course, is the Frankfurter—the sausage that became the hot dog.
But there was another idea that stayed closer to home. |
 |
 |
Frankfurter Grüne Soße
—Green Herb Sauce.
Not just a recipe, but a way of serving the season.
Seven herbs—not chosen for symbolism,
but because they grew well together.
Though it’s hard not to notice—
"seven" has always meant something complete,
in many cultures
|
A Festival of Spring
Every May, at the height of spring,
Frankfurt gathers for its Green Sauce Festival.
Cooks bring their versions.
People taste, compare, and decide.
It’s less about one “correct” recipe—
and more about celebrating the season together..
Of course, the traditional plate is there:
Green sauce, boiled eggs, and potatoes.
Sometimes even Schwenkkartoffeln—
boiled potatoes tossed in a pan with onion or bacon,
finished with herbs and just enough crisp to carry the sauce.
Let's Make Some
Frankfurter Greuner Sauce
Jump to Recipe
It is typically served with boiled egg halves and boiled or new potatoes. or
a more crisp fried potato
7 different herbs
There’s also something quietly interesting about the number seven.
The herbs in Frankfurt’s green sauce weren’t chosen for symbolism,
hey simply grew well together,
but seven has long been seen as a number of completeness.
Seven days in a week,
seven notes in a scale,
seven colors in the spectrum.
It shows up across cultures in small, familiar ways.
Maybe it’s coincidence, or maybe it just feels right,
bringing together a handful of greens into something that tastes whole,
like the season itself has finally come together
I couldn't find all the different herbs so I chose a few different ones.
I like to fold the herbs and the chopped eggs in the sauce and not blend them.
Go here for the full recipe
for
Frankfurter Greuner Sosse
(Green Sauce)
The Idea Travels
In Bavaria,
a few miles east of my grandma
and my ancestors they welcomed the spring with local greens like
Watercress, they could put on their toast with boiled egg slices
Now a days you will find
dishes like
Eggs in Mustard Sauce
(Eier in Senfsosse)
Jump to Recipe
Eier in Senfsoße or eggs in mustard sauce
is one of those dishes that sits quietly in the background of German cooking.
It’s simple, practical, and built from things every kitchen had on hand
eggs, milk, a bit of flour, and mustard. Often served with potatoes.
This time I am serving it with asparagus on toast.
It was the kind of meal that carried people through the tail end of winter,
It doesn’t have the brightness of a green herb sauce,
but it has something just as important, a gentle sharpness from the mustard that wakes the plate up.
Warm, comforting, and a little tangy, it feels like a transition dish.
Not quite winter, not fully spring.
Just something steady, something familiar, holding its place until the greens arrive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Baden Wurtemberg
Wild Greens, like Dandelion, or Cress, with Hot Bacon Dressing
topped with an Egg.
Spring Tonic Salad
Fresh Spring Greens with Bacon Dressing
and Soft Poached Egg
Jump to Recipe
Some years back, someone introduced me to a simple plate
of ham and greens and referred to it as a Spring Tonic Dinner.
At the time, the name didn’t really register.
But in hindsight, it fits perfectly.
After months of relying on preserved foods,
those first fresh greens weren’t just a change—they were essential.
Bitter, bright, but full of life.
They were even thought to act as a kind of blood purifier
something to wake the body back up
after a winter of pickled and cured foods.
Served alongside what remained from winter
ham, cured and ready.
What had been stored…
meeting what had just arrived.
It’s a quiet way of understanding what spring cooking is really about.
Go Here to make a nice
"Spring Tonic Salad with Soft Poached Egg"
Northern Germany Spring Special
In the North around Hamburg,
where my grandma departed for America in 1904
spinach was the number one green.
A creamed spinach with a fried or boiled eggs
might be a dish you would have.
This is a cooked dish that is a big part of my heritage and very popular style of doing
vegetables in Germany. Whether it is Kale, Spinach, Kohlrabe or carrots
this style of cooking elevates this a "boiled veggie"
that lacks flavor.
My grandma would use this simple technique to fry onions
and a bit of bacon or oil and pepper and then add the greens or vegetable,
cook it till tender then add a bit of milk and flour and thicken it up.
You can use instead of milk you can use stock or water.
You can also use cream or a bit of sour cream to finish it.
This is a good recipe here for creamed spinach that
was one of my father's favorites that my grandma made all the time.
Go here for
Emma's Spinach in Cream Sauce
also this technique can be used for other greens and vegetables even.
In the Rhineland
Spring Asparagus, Potato and Ham Dinner
with Hollandaise sauce
is called
Spargelessen
This wonderful picture was sent to me by Dagmar Barnekow
Along the Rhine and across much of western Germany,
spring arrives with asparagus.
For a short season, it becomes the center of the plate
served simply, often with potatoes, a slice of ham, and a warm hollandaise.
Rich with egg yolk, the sauce brings that same golden note
soft, round, and comforting.
Green and gold, side by side.
Not a new idea—just another way the season has always been served.
This is a simple antidote for bringing in the spring.
It is a wonderful fun experience to
to make a classic hollandaise
with the egg yolks
and lemon juice
gently cooking half way
and then dripping in melted butter
and watch the emulsification
turn it into velvety smooth
sauce.
However if you want something that is quick and simple
to make that is foolproof
here is a similar recipe that tastes like Hollandaise
and can be made in a flash.
I call it
Spring Gold Sauce
South in Austria,
there is a speial soup they make
with fresh herbs,
Frühlingsuppe
or
Spring Soup
"Frühlingssuppe" or Spring Soup,
takes on a slightly different character in Austria.
In the Alpine regions, winter tends to linger a little longer.
Even as the first greens begin to appear, the air can still carry a chill.
So instead of light, separate dishes,
those early herbs are often gathered and brought together into something warm.
Parsley, chervil, spinach, young leeks, whatever is growing,
finds its way into the pot. Not to be showcased individually,
but to be softened, blended, and made whole.
It’s still spring.
Just held a little closer to winter.
A bowl that warms you…
while the season catches up.
Go here to make
Frühlingsuppe
or
Spring Soup
with step by step pictures
Alaso Make It Your Own
No matter
The exact herbs from Frankfurt aren’t always easy to find.
But that’s not really the point.
Just like there are countless versions of the hot dog,
there are just as many ways to make a green sauce.
So build your own.
Something fresh.
Something bright.
Something alive.
And Then—Add the Gold
Finish it with something golden.
Eggs.
The color of the sun.
As the days grow longer, they return—
nests filling again, kitchens coming back to life.
Something rich…
to land on something green.
|
